Wind energy is one of the fastest growing sources of new electricity around the world.(1)

风能是增长最快的在世界各地的新电力来源之一。

In 2012, global wind energy capacity grew by 19 percent, with more than 150,000 turbines operating in 90 countries.(2)

在 2012 年，全球风电装机容量增长了 19%，超过 150,000 涡轮在 90 多个国家经营。

Now a new study suggests offshore turbines could have an additional environmental benefit: weakening the power of hurricanes.(3)

现在新的研究表明离岸涡轮发电机可以有额外的环境效益： 削弱飓风的威力。

Over several decades, Stanford University's Mark Jacobson has developed a complex computer model to study air pollution, energy, weather and climate.(4)

过去数十年，斯坦福大学的马克雅各布森发展一种复杂的计算机模型，研究空气污染、 能源、 天气和气候。

The engineering professor recently used it to address a nagging question facing the renewable energy industry: could hurricane force winds destroy offshore windmills?(5)

工程教授最近使用它来解决可再生能源产业面临争议不休的问题： 可以飓风摧毁海上风车吗？

“The first thought I had was, well maybe the turbines would extract enough power from the hurricane to diminish the hurricane, but I couldn’t prove that yet, unless I ran some numerical simulations,” he said.(6)

"我已经是第一次思想、 嗯，也许涡轮机将从中提取足够的电力飓风减少飓风，但我不能证明，然而，除非我跑了一些数值模拟，"他说。

So, Jacobson, co-author of the study in Nature Climate Change, ran the numbers on three of the most powerful hurricanes to hit the U.S. East and Gulf coasts in recent years.(7)

所以，雅各布森，在自然气候变化研究的合著跑数字上三个最强大的飓风在近几年来达到在美国东部和海湾海岸。

The model simulated what would happen if large wind farms with tens of thousands of turbines had been in the path of those storms.(8)

模型模拟如果与数以万计的涡轮机的大型风力发电场已在这些风暴路径中会发生什么。

“We found that the hurricanes would be dissipated quite a bit if you have large arrays of offshore wind turbines," Jacobson said.(9)

雅各布森说："我们发现，飓风会相当消散，是否你有大的离岸风力涡轮机的数组"。

"The storm surge could be reduced by up to 79 percent and wind speeds by 50 percent or even more.”(10)

"风暴潮可以是，减少高达 79%和风速 50%或甚至更多。

The resulting milder winds would also prevent damage to the turbines.(11)

由此产生温和风涡轮也会防止损坏。

Jacobson explains that as the hurricane approaches, the spinning blades remove energy from the storm’s edge and slow down the wind behind it.(12)

雅各布森解释说随着飓风的临近，旋转叶片从风暴的边缘删除能源减慢它背后的风。

That slowdown in turn would lower wave height and reduce the winds that push those waves toward the coast.(13)

但这种放缓反过来会降低波浪高度并减少将那些海浪推往海岸的风。

“So by the time the hurricane gets to shore, it’s significantly weakened," he said.(14)

"所以飓风获取到岸边的时候，它被大大削弱，"他说。

"And storm surge is due to winds going long distance over the water, and the storm surge is reduced quite a bit as well," Jacobsen said.(15)

"和风暴潮是由于风翻水、 远距离和减少了风暴潮很有点好，"Jacobsen 说。

"So [there are] these two benefits, reduced wind and reduced storm surge, due to the large arrays of offshore turbines.”(16)

"所以 [有] 这些两个好处，减少风和降低风暴潮，由于离岸涡轮机的大型数组."

Storm surge leads to flooding and death, says University of Delaware professor Cristina Archer, a co-author of the study.(17)

风暴潮导致水浸和死亡，特拉华大学教授克里斯蒂娜.阿彻，研究报告的共同作者说。

She says barrier walls or islands buffer storm surge, but, the study shows turbines can also play a role.(18)

她说障墙或群岛缓冲风暴潮，但是研究显示涡轮机也可以发挥作用。

“We thought we could actually act on the wind, which is the driving force of the storm surge," she said. "So by reducing the wind, you are actually reducing the storm surge dramatically.”(19)

她说："我们认为我们实际上可以在风，是风暴潮的驱动力，采取行动"。"所以通过减少风，你真的在减少风暴潮显著。"

Archer suggests locating wind farms in offshore hot spots where they could tap the wind for electricity, offsetting fossil fuel use and its resulting emissions and pollution.(20)

阿彻表明定位风电场离岸热点地方他们可以点击的电力，风中抵消了化石燃料的使用和其产生的排放量和污染。

They could also act as insurance against storm damage, as the study simulations demonstrate.(21)

他们也可以起到作为保险免受风暴的破坏，作为研究模拟演示。

“If you can be smart about it, then you can have still very, very high benefits and locally.(22)

"如果你可以智能的它，你就可以去仍是非常、 非常高的好处和本地。

So, for example, for [Hurricane] Katrina, we placed the turbines just up wind of New Orleans," she said. "And, so we protected New Orleans by taking action in New Orleans.(23)

所以，例如，[飓风] 卡特里娜飓风，我们就在新奥尔良的风力涡轮机，"她说。"并且，所以我们在新奥尔良采取行动保护新奥尔良。

So [we showed that] local actions had actual local benefits.”(24)

所以 [我们表明，] 有本地操作，实际本地利益."

That 2005 hurricane on the Gulf Coast was the costliest natural disaster in U.S. history, with a death toll in the thousands.(25)

那 2005 年飓风在墨西哥湾沿岸是代价最高的自然灾难在美国历史上，在数千人的死亡人数。

The study suggests that while there has been political and social resistance in the United States to installing even a few hundred offshore wind turbines, let alone tens of thousands, a wind farm would pay for itself in the long term by generating power and helping to reduce hurricane damage.(26)